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- Genre: Academic theses
Description
Approximately one-third of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans develop mental health problems, yet only 35-40% of those with mental disorders are seeking mental healthcare (Hoge, et al., 2004; Vogt, 2011). Military spouses may be an important resource for facilitating treatment seeking (Warner, et al., 2008), especially if service member mental health issues are impacting the marriage. Military spouses might be hesitant to encourage service member help-seeking, however, due to perceived threat of adverse military career consequences. For this study, 62 military wives completed an online survey. As part of the survey, participants were randomly assigned to one of four vignettes containing a description of a hypothetical military husband with mental health symptoms. Each vignette presented different combinations of marital conflict (high versus low) and service member concerns about adverse career consequences (high versus low). Wives rated on a five-point scale how likely they were to encourage the hypothetical military husband to seek help. It was hypothesized that spouses would be more willing to encourage help-seeking when concerns about adverse military career consequences were low and marital distress was high. No main effects or interaction effect were found for marriage and career. Perceived stigma about seeking mental health treatment in the military, psychological identification as a military spouse, and experience and familiarity with military mental healthcare policies failed to moderate the relationship between marital conflict, career concerns, and encouragement of help-seeking. Correlational analyses revealed that (1) greater experience with military mental healthcare (first- or secondhand), and (2) greater perceptions of stigma regarding seeking mental healthcare in the military each were associated with decreased perceptions of military supportiveness of mental healthcare. Therefore, although the experimental manipulation in this study did not lead to differences in military spouses' encouragement of a hypothetical military service member to seek mental health services, other findings based on participants' actual experiences suggest that experiences with military mental healthcare may generate or reinforce negative perceptions of military mental healthcare. Altering actual experiences with military mental healthcare, in addition to perceptions of stigma, may be a useful area of intervention for military service members and spouses.
ContributorsHermosillo, Lori (Author) / Roberts, Nicole (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Tinsley, Barbara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The effects of over-the-counter drug (OTC) use on college students' health has been debated in the field of psychology with researchers arguing that poor sleep quality among college students is the result of polysubstance use. However, this explanation is not a foregone conclusion. These researchers have not adequately addressed the issue poor sleep quality among college students and its relationship to polysubstance use. This is an important issue because prolonged unsupervised OTC drug use and poor sleep quality can impact long-term health and lessen students' likelihood of being successful in college. This paper addresses the issue of OTC drug use with special attention to sleep quality. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Scores were collected to assess subjective sleep quality and its relationship to OTC drug use. Several other risk factors including binge drinking, marijuana use, and illicit drug use were also accounted for in this model. This study argues that, although the current literature suggests that poor sleep quality is the effect of drug use rather than the cause; the relationships between these factors are still unclear. This study aims to fill a gap in the college drug use literature by establishing a relationship between poor sleep quality and OTC drug use in a college sample.
ContributorsLara, Gustavo (Author) / Vargas, Perla (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Robles-Sotelo, Elias (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Researchers have found inconsistent effects (negative or positive) of social relationships on self-control capacity. The variation of findings may depend on the aspects of social relationships. In this study, rather than examining overall social relationships and self-control, characteristics in social relationships were clearly defined, including social support, social connection and social conflict, to determine their specific effects on self-control. An online survey study was conducted, and 292 college students filled out the survey. For data analysis, path analysis was utilized to examined the direct effect and indirect effect from social relationships to self-control. Results showed social connection and social conflict may indirectly associate with self-control through stress, but social support does not. It may suggest, in traditional stress buffering model, it is the social connection in social support that really reduce the stress. Concerning the direct effects, social support and social connection were significantly associated with self-control directly, but social conflict does not. This result may support the Social Baseline Theory that positive social relationships have direct regulating effects. Results are good for guidance of experimental manipulation of social relationships in study of social influences of self-control.
ContributorsGuan, Xin (Author) / Burleson, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Roberts, Nicole (Committee member) / Schweitzer, Nicholas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Emotion regulation repertoire, or the number of emotion regulation strategies one is able to employ when needed, is an important element of emotion regulation flexibility. Emotion regulation flexibility, the ability to regulate in accordance with changing situational contexts and demands, is predictive of emotion regulation success. Currently, little is known about emotion regulation repertoire and its association with emotional health and well-being. In particular, more can be learned about how the different strategies in one’s repertoire interact, and which strategies show stronger relationships with mental health. The current study aimed to assess the relationship of different emotion regulation strategies to mental health, including their individual and combined influence. In addition, the interaction between the use of specific emotion regulation strategies and emotion regulation flexibility with respect to mental health was examined. I hypothesized (1a) reappraisal and (1b) acceptance, two strategies previously associated with positive psychological outcomes, would be significant predictors of mental health, and (2) better flexibility would predict better mental health. In addition, I hypothesized that (3) strategies often found to be maladaptive (suppression, distraction, rumination, and experiential avoidance) would have an inverse relationship with mental health. Finally, (4) maladaptive strategies would be associated with worse mental health for those lower in flexibility. These hypotheses were tested through a questionnaire as part of a larger in-lab study. Results revealed that reappraisal and rumination were the strongest predictors of mental health. Emotion regulation flexibility did not predict mental health or moderate the relationship between individual emotion regulation strategies and mental health. Results from this study suggest some emotion regulation strategies are stronger predictors of mental health than others. This will guide future research on specific emotion regulation strategies in a repertoire as well as their combined effect on mental health. Creating a clearer picture of how different strategies interact and influence mental health will also be vital for clinical interventions.
ContributorsSchmitt, Marin (Author) / Roberts, Nicole A. (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Robles-Sotelo, Elias (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
This study investigated whether research by researchers affiliated with a religious academic institution would be seen as of less scientific merit than research done by researchers affiliated with a nonreligious academic institution. Such a bias may exist given the different value systems underlying religion and science, the widespread perception of a conflict between religion and science, and research on differences in cognitive styles and stereotypes about religious versus nonreligious people. In this study, U.S. participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk completed an online survey, which included an abstract of an article describing scientific research with authors’ names and academic institutions, and questions on perceived scientific merit, religiosity, spirituality, religion as Quest, and perceived conflict between religion and science. There was a significant difference in the perceived merit of the researchers, with the group believing the researchers were affiliated with a religious academic institution rating the research as lower in scientific merit than the group believing the researchers were affiliated with a nonreligious academic institution. The perceived level of conflict between religion and science was found to moderate the relationship, such that higher levels of perceived conflict between religion and science showed a greater difference in scientific merit between groups.
ContributorsPorter, Erik W (Author) / Hall, Deborah L. (Thesis advisor) / Mickelson, Kristin (Committee member) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Social scientists from many disciplines have examined trust, including trust between those with different religious affiliations, emotional antecedents of trust, and physiological correlates of trust. However, little is known about how all of these factors intersect to shape trust behaviors. The current study aimed to examine physiological responses while individuals engaged in a trust game with a religious in-group or out-group member. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in which they were presented with the target’s profile before playing the game. In each of the conditions the target was described as either Catholic or Muslim and as someone who engaged in either costly signaling or anti-costly signaling behavior. In addition to assessing the amount of money invested as a behavioral measure of trust, physiological responses, specifically cardiac interbeat interval (IBI) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), were measured. I hypothesized that when playing the trust game with a Catholic target as opposed to a Muslim target, Christian participants would (1) report being more similar to the target, (2) trust the target more, (3) invest more money in the target, (4) have a more positive outlook on the amount invested, and (5) show greater cardiorespiratory down-regulation, reflected by increases in IBI and RSA. Findings revealed that Christian participants reported greater similarity and showed a non-significant trend toward reporting a more positive outlook on (greater confidence in/satisfaction with) their investment decision when playing a Catholic versus Muslim target. Additionally, Christian participants who played an anti-costly signaling Catholic target showed greater cardiorespiratory down-regulation (increases from baseline for IBI, reflecting slower heart rate, and increases in RSA) than Christian participants who played an anti-costly signaling Muslim target. Results from this study echo previous findings suggesting that perceived similarity may facilitate trust. Findings also are consistent with previous research suggesting that religious ingroup or outgroup membership may not be as influential in shaping trust decisions if the trustee is costly signaling; for anti-signaling, however, cardiorespiratory down-regulation to a religious ingroup member may be apparent. These physiological signals may provide interoceptive information about a peer’s trustworthiness.
ContributorsThibault, Stephanie A (Author) / Roberts, Nicole A. (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Literature was reviewed about how synchrony occurs in infant-parent dyads, in emotion, and physiologically in couple dyads. Social baseline theory suggests that both conversation and interpersonal touch confer benefits by reducing burden on the participants through coregulatory processes. The current study examined how affectionate touch and positive conversation influenced physiological synchrony, a potential mechanism of physiological coregulation, in couples. Because synchrony is believed to occur within the autonomic nervous system, in the present study, physiological synchrony was measured using cardiac interbeat interval (IBI) as an indicator of autonomic nervous system activation. Couples were assigned to one of four conditions: interpersonal touch with positive conversation, interpersonal touch without conversation, positive conversation with no interpersonal touch, and neither interpersonal touch nor conversation. We hypothesized that 1) IBI synchrony between spouses within the real data would be significantly higher than within a phase-shuffled version of the data; and 2) synchrony would be strongest in the touch-talk condition, followed by the touch-no talk condition, followed by the talk-no touch- condition, and finally by the no touch-no talk condition. We also investigated whether there was a tendency for husbands or wives to serve as leader or follower in the four conditions. Using windowed lagged cross-correlations, we found that synchrony within the real data was stronger than synchrony within the shuffled data, suggesting that it reflects an ongoing interpersonal process. Next, we found that there was significantly greater synchrony in the touch-talk than in the touch-no talk condition, marginally greater synchrony in the touch-no talk condition than in the no touch-talk condition, and significantly greater synchrony in the no touch-talk than in the no touch-no talk conditions, suggesting that talk, rather than touch, was driving these synchrony levels. We also found that the only condition with a significant level of leading-following pattern was the no touch-talk condition. More husbands than wives led the covariation in IBI when couples were conversing but not touching. When touch was included this effect did not occur. Future research should include potential moderators such as marital satisfaction and investigate whether seeing one’s partner influences synchrony.
ContributorsMcAfee, Ashley Nicole (Author) / Burleson, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Duran, Nicholas (Committee member) / Roberts, Nicole (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Seizure disorders are a widespread health concern (England, Liverman, Schultz, & Strawbridge, 2012). Past research shows that a good quality marital relationship can have numerous health benefits (Homish & Leonard, 2008); however, there is little evidence to show that individuals suffering from seizures are receiving any of these marital benefits. Instead, most research suggests that individuals with a seizure disorder are significantly less likely to marry, have more marital conflict, and report the seizures as a main reason for divorce (Chen, et al., 2013). The current study included 67 individuals who self-reported that they suffered from a seizure disorder. These individuals took part in an online survey that included questions about their experience with seizures, their strategies for managing emotions, and their relationship (marital) status. It was hypothesized that individuals who were married would report fewer emotion regulation difficulties and be less impacted by their seizures than those who were unmarried. The results of this study showed that: 1) married and unmarried individuals did not differ in reported emotion regulation difficulties; 2) contrary to predictions, married individuals were more impacted by their seizures than unmarried individuals; 3) greater emotion regulation difficulties (specifically difficulty accepting emotions and difficulty carrying out goal-directed behavior when upset) were associated with a greater perceived impact of seizures on one’s life; and 4) marriage moderated the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and impact of seizures, such that difficulty accepting emotions predicted a greater impact of seizures on one’s life for married but not unmarried individuals. This was not the case for another facet of emotion regulation measured, namely difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior when upset. An important conclusion from this study is that a failure to accept emotions may be more likely to contribute to seizure impact among married than unmarried individuals. Promoting acceptance of emotions, perhaps in the context of one’s marital relationship as well as in general, may be beneficial for individuals suffering from a seizure disorder.
ContributorsBryant, Victoria (Author) / Roberts, Nicole (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Affection represents a positive and often intimate psychological state (Floyd & Morman, 1998) that is communicated through verbal, nonverbal, and social supportive behaviors. A formidable research literature indicates that receiving and expressing affection significantly benefits health. One form of affection that may produce these benefits is cuddling. Cuddling includes intimate, physical, and loving whole-body contact that does not necessarily include sexual activity and tends to be reserved for very intimate relationships. Working from affectionate exchange theory (Floyd, 2001), this study’s purpose is to examine the effects of cuddling on relational health for individuals living with their spouse. To test a causal relationship between cuddling and relational health, a four-week experiment was conducted. Eighty adults were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) a treatment condition in which individuals were instructed to increase cuddling behaviors with their spouse, (2) a comparison condition in which individuals were instructed to increase shared mealtime with their spouse, or (3) a control condition in which individuals were instructed to not change their behavior. Individuals in the treatment condition were predicted to experience significant improvements in relational health as outlined in the investment model (i.e., relational satisfaction, investment, quality of alternatives, and commitment) to a greater extent than individuals in the comparison or control conditions. A research question explored whether individuals in the comparison condition differed from those in the control condition. Planned contrasts were conducted to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that individuals in the treatment condition reported more relationship satisfaction and commitment and less quality of alternatives than individuals in the comparison and control conditions. Experimental conditions did not differ on reports of investment. Finally, individuals in the comparison and control conditions did not differ on any of the relational health markers. These findings support affection exchange theory and contribute to a growing literature identifying the benefits of affectionate communication. Moreover, the methodology and results of this study provide compelling evidence for a causal relationship between cuddling and satisfaction and commitment for relatively satisfied couples.
Contributorsvan Raalte, Lisa J (Author) / Floyd, Kory (Thesis advisor) / Mongeau, Paul (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
How early life is experienced and perceived can greatly affect mental and physical health outcomes. An individual is greatly influenced by their first models of what social relationships look and feel like, and with time also learn how to survive when less favorable social experiences occur. The lessons learned may lead to healthy problem solving and resilience, or it may lead to unhealthy problem-solving habits that hinder well-being. Anxious thoughts and other mental health symptoms may accompany an individual long-term and hinder an essential need for a healthy life. The first main purpose of this thesis is to examine the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on mental health (anxiety symptoms), and on sleep quality (an essential need). The second purpose of my thesis is to investigate the impact of genetics on resilience, specifically, the mu-opioid receptor gene. The first hypothesis proposed ACEs that were perceived as more traumatic and occurred more frequently would be associated with more poor sleep quality symptoms. The second hypothesis predicted that anxiety symptoms would mediate the association. The third hypothesis (exploratory) suggested that an individual’s alleles for the mu-opioid receptor gene would moderate the mediation pathway. The study was conducted with 318 participants between the ages of 18 and 35 years old. The study demonstrated a direct effect for ACEs and sleep. Anxiety mediated the association between ACEs (exposure and severity) and sleep (insomnia, quality, sleepiness), suggesting that ACEs possibly increase feelings of anxiety which, in turn, lead to worse sleep outcomes. Finally, the moderated-mediation model with OPRM1 as the moderator, was not significant for the mediation pathway A; however, there was a significant interaction with anxiety and sleep symptoms.
ContributorsBailey, Elise (Author) / Mickelson, Kristin (Thesis advisor) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Petrov, Megan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022